​British celebrity chef’s website hacked, infected with malware

The website of popular celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has been hacked and embedded with malicious software that could have infected visitors to the site, a computer security firm has warned.

Once installed on a
computer, the malware can be used to install further malicious
programs which could put the user’s privacy at ask.

Jamie Oliver’s official website is ranked #536 in the UK,
attracting an average of 10 million visits per month.

It is not known how the hackers accessed the website. One known
strategy is the purchase of a web ad, where malicious programs
can be hidden. However, in this case the malware was hidden
within the site itself.

Computer security firm Malwarebytes came across the infection
during a routine check and notified the administrators of
jamieoliver.com.

In a blog posted on their website, Malwarebytes say the problem
started with a “compromised JavaScript” hosted on the
website.

“It could be a legitimate script that has been injected with
additional content or a rogue script altogether,” they said.

The security firm urged the site’s webmasters to “look for
additional evidence of infection, rather than simply restore or
delete the offending script.”

They also speculate the hackers could have used stolen login
credentials or a vulnerable plugin to gain access to the
website’s server.